Sunshine
by sparrow.marrow
Summary: A darker look at the Silver Millennium: Beryl’s origins are unearthed,Serenity’s origins are questioned, loyalties are tested, romance blooms, jealousy blossoms, betrayal is guaranteed. ShitennouxSenshi pairings with a few twists.
1. Rebellion Lies

A darker look at the Silver Millennium: Beryl's origins are unearthed, Serenity's origins are questioned, loyalties are tested, romance blossoms, betrayal is guaranteed.

Rated T for some sex, violence, and bad language.

I have been writing bits of this story for five years. This is supposedly my last great upheaval of affection for Sailor Moon. This story is patched, stitched, unwoven, rewoven, crumpled, unfolded, polished, hemmed, and loved. 

All the chapter titles are names of songs I will post the artist of the song at the end of the chapter. Reviews are welcome. I do not own Sailor Moon or said song titles. I just like to write drabble and smoke cigarettes. 

tweaked: January 25 2008

…  
Sunshine  
…

Chapter One: Rebellion (Lies)

Jadeite swung his legs over the side of the bed; untangling himself from clinging bedclothes. Running a hand through his hair he stretched and got up, pulling on a pair of loose linen pants that he had discarded earlier. He grabbed a decanter full of amber liquid off the nightstand and padded towards the fireplace, settling himself into an overstuffed leather chair, his feet propped up on a matching ottoman.

Lazily he took a swig from his bottle grimacing as the Martian Fire Whiskey scorched his throat and stomach, and then finally settled in a warm golden puddle inside of him. He flinched, something hard was digging uncomfortably into his naked back, twisting he set the bottle on the floor and fumbled behind him. His explorative efforts produced his pipe, which had somehow gotten wedged in between the solid back and soft cushion of the chair

Sighing he stretched his bare feet towards the crackling fire, and lit his pipe sending up a thick cloud of smoke. Letting his head fall back, he watched the dancing shadows the firelight cast on the low stone ceiling, wishing that he was anywhere else but here, in his old room, in his father's far flung stone fortress.

The day had been long and sleep was elusive. Jadeite hardly ever slept well, but his insomnia was much worse whenever he had to travel to Biskek, his father's capital city. Of course being the only remaining son of one of the four Minor Kings of the Terran Empire had its advantages… but often Jadeite only felt trapped by weighty expectations and responsibility. Taking another swig from the crystal decanter the blond man grinned ruefully, luckily he had discovered at an early age that drinking could blunt the sharp blades of guilt and familial failure. 

He started, shaken from his reverie as sleek arms wrapped around him from behind. Long nails raked gently across his chest, a pair of soft lips traveled down his neck, a cloud of dark hair momentarily hid the fire from view, teeth grazed his earlobe, a husky voice whispered softly in his ear, "Come back to bed my Lord. I have grown cold and lonely without you." 

Jadeite smirked, groping behind him; he pulled the whispering woman him into his lap, weighty thoughts of duty, guilt, and family banished form his mind by the promise of soft and yielding flesh, "Ah well I'm not sure I know how to warm you," he murmured running a hand up and down one honey colored thigh. 

The woman laughed, a chuckle deep in her throat, "I remember that you warmed me well enough earlier this evening, twice as I recall."

Jadeite continued to stroke the woman's thigh but his attention wandered, moving towards the popping spitting gold of the fire. It was always cold in Biskek, even in summer it was cold. Jadeite shook his head, if Biskek could even be called a capital city. The town was really little more than a frozen outpost, tucked into perpetually snow-covered mountains, on the border to the middle of nowhere. Jadeite's father had moved his household here nearly eighteen years ago after the Falling Fires had destroyed Itoli, the original capital of the Far Eastern Quadrant. Jadeite closed his eyes, his hand still resting on the woman's warm leg. 

The Fire had come, without warning a blazing firestorm erupted from a clear blue sky, balls of flame and burning rock fell to Earth, igniting everything they touched, some fell in fields, destroying crops, others fell in cities and towns taking lives, still others fell in the ocean creating massive waves that devastated coastal communities. The catastrophe had been widespread. The whole Terran Empire had suffered that day, now commonly known as the Day of Fire or Day of Falling Fire. Millions had lost their lives and the economy was nearly crippled. Itoli, Jadeite's home, was completely annihilated, first reduced to ashes by the Fires, and then flooded beyond repair. Jadeite's mother and older brother had both perished in the blaze. After that day, Jadeite's father, heartbroken over the loss of his beloved wife and older son, had taken his two remaining children, Jadeite and his twin sister Jade, and retreated to the bitterly cold mountains where he could hide his broken heart from the Empire. 

At Biskek Jadeite's life had changed, become colder and harder. Jadeite himself became colder and harder. Only a deep-seated love for his sister Jade and his commitment to the Shitennou had kept him from completely self-destructing during his tumultuous teenage years. He had retreated to Koto, the Imperial City, and his duties with the Shitennou as often as he could, but with the death of his older brother he had become (unwilling or not) heir to his father's kingdom and had to return to Biskek every so often to placate his father's ministers. Jadeite hated Biskek. It was small, provincial and cold. Jadeite could not stand the cold, he hated it. Sometimes he thought that perhaps he would trade everything he had, everything he was just to be warm forever, to be embraced by the fire. _Embraced by the fire_, Jadeite sneered inwardly at himself, _how poetic, maybe you should have been a bard and not a soldier after all.  
_  
"What are you thinking about Jadeite, you are always so far away," the woman in his lap, whispered in his ear. 

Jadeite shook his head brushing her hand away from his face, lying he said, "I was just thinking about my trip tomorrow."

"Ah," the woman murmured, rising from his lap she picked the decanter up off the stone floor and walked over to an old timber dresser on the other side of the room her long deep auburn hair tumbling down her back. "Where are you going?" she asked nonchalantly. 

"You know where I'm going," Jadeite sighed, relighting his pipe, sending up another thick stream of spicy scented smoke. 

The woman smiled slightly as she reached for one of the glasses sitting on top of the dresser. "Ah yes, to Koto, ever glorious, always shining, capital of the Terran Empire and then on to the Moon Kingdom."

Jadeite closed his eyes, "I do not want to have this conversation again."

"No I suppose you wouldn't," the woman muttered turning and eyeing her lover to gauge his mood. Pouring herself a drink she quickly swallowed it and then slipped back across the room lowering herself onto the floor at Jadeite's feet. "Please take me with you," she purred running her hands up Jadeite's legs.

"No." 

"Why not? You know I've always wanted to go. I would be no burden… you would hardly notice I was there Koto is so big… I'm nothing but a servant anyway. I could disappear in Koto."

Jadeite opened his eyes looking at the woman sitting in front of him, her face half obscured by shadow, her large hooded eyes glowing golden in the firelight. She had shared his bed for years, whenever he was required to leave Koto and attend to his father's business. She had originally been one of his sisters' maidservants but when Jade had married the woman had been left behind for some reason or another. Jadeite had never claimed to fathom the ways of women, but he knew the woman did not have many friends in the town. Most of the servants steered clear of her not wanting to be associated with the whispers of witchcraft or the rumors that she spent far too much time in the icy woods communing with the ancient sprites and spirits that were said to live there. She was a cold and unsettling woman, aloof even at the best of times, but she served her purpose to warm his bed and she had done so with enough zest to keep him interested for quite some time. She was also much smarter then she would have people belief.

She moved herself up from her sitting position climbing his body, straddling him, trapping him snugly in his chair, gazing down at him suggestively. "Please my lord, I know that you grow tired of my… entertainments… soon you will move on from me for good. After all these years of companionship all I ask is that you give me a chance to move up in life." She started to move her hips grinding against him. "Get me out of this city; get me out of this life. I don't want to grow old and ugly with this frozen castle as a backdrop. It's the least you could after all that we've… been through together."

Jadeite gasped as she pressed herself harder against his body, his pipe falling from his hand, hot tobacco tumbling across the stone floor. "No," he said again clenching his teeth refusing to concede even as she moved against him. 

"What will it take to convince you my lord? What gift can I give you? What secrets would you like revealed?" the woman murmured her mouth hovering near his ear. 

"You have nothing that I want, and could know nothing that I need knowledge of," Jadeite said coldly turning his head so that his lips barely brushed hers. 

She began to kiss his neck speaking almost lower then he could hear, "I don't think that's true my lord. I know many things that you might like to know, secrets, facts, information about the rebellion forming even now in the South of your lands..."

Jadeite moved swiftly, all his senses alert, despite the satisfying sensations swirling in the pit of his stomach, clenching her hard to his body, stopping her undulations. She let out a little cry of pain as his fingers dug into the soft flesh of her back. "Speak what you know witch," he hissed forcing her to make eye contact with him by grabbing her chin.

The woman squirmed, "I know many things my lord, a vision in a pool, a voice in the glade, a message in the dark. The forest tells me secrets that I would reveal to you if…" Jadeite gave the woman a shake, deadly serious. "Take me to Koto Jadeite and I will tell you everything you need to know," the woman blurted out. 

Jadeite held the woman tighter, "Tell me what you know and I will decide if it is enough to take you to Koto."

"The rebellion, it is bigger than you or anyone else thinks. The information your spies are bringing back to you is faulty. Duke Zhu is gathering an army, an army large enough ready to strike at the heart of the Empire," the woman breathed.

"How do you know this? What magic is this that you can see things that my spies cannot? There have been no reports of any kind of army, no levies have been drawn from my lands or from any others, let alone the kind of numbers that it would be able to attack the capital city," Jadeite hissed.

She shrugged sensing that she was on her way back to gaining control of the conversation, "They are shielded by magic, illusions. The same magic is converting your own people to Duke Zhu's cause, as of yet he has come against no resistance. Your spies, trained as they are in stealth and swordplay, are not able to pierce the veil that Duke Zhu and his forces have created."

"Where is my sister?" Jadeite asked brusquely.

Something predatory flashed in the woman's eyes but it was gone as quickly as it had come and Jadeite did not notice, "The Duke would not dare to harm your sister, he is not ready to face the wrath of the entire Empire let alone your father if anyone found out that your sister was in danger."

"I think you know that the wrath of my father is not as terrible or as intimidating as it once was," said Jadeite.

The woman shrugged again, "No, but even Duke Zhu, foolhardy as he is, knows to let sleeping giants lie."

Jadeite reluctantly let the subject go his forehead furrowed in concentration and puzzlement, "But then he does eventually plan to attack. His ultimate goal is to crown himself King?"

She shook her head, "Who knows. The forest does not tell me of the man's motivations, only that he is driven onward and protected by magic, magic that is not off this world."

Jadeite narrowed his eyes, "What do you mean magic not of this world? How can that be?"

The woman struggled on, under the intensity of Jadeite's stare, "I don't know what it means, it just means that the magic he is using is not familiar… it is foreign. Perhaps the Moon…"

Jadeite cut her off quickly with another little shake, "Choose your words carefully witch, what you say could mean war on a far grander scale then any of us is prepared to deal with. Do you have any factual information or are you just feeding me conjectures gathered from shadows?"

"My lord, everything that I have told you is true! I have told you everything I know! The power shielding Duke Zhu is powerful, it is hard for me to see past it or to see its origins… you yourself have had trouble gathering information, the rebellions is small as of yet, but it will grow as more and more villages and cities are swayed by Duke Zhu's magic and his words. You know that there have been murmurs of discontent in your lands. They say your father has grown weak, and that you… well you know what people say of you… they say that Duke Zhu might be a better ruler, that he might be able to restore things to how they were before, before the Day of Fire…"

"I know what they say. And you have seen nothing of my sister?"

"Only that she and her son are safe. As I said, Duke Zhu would not hurt the mother of his only child… I can try to see more… perhaps later when…"

"No. You have seen enough," Jadeite said relaxing his grip on the woman but keeping his gaze fixed on her. After a moment he looked away, "I want to know one more thing."

"I will tell you whatever I know."

"Why do you really want to go to Koto," Jadeite asked scanning the woman's expression carefully. Her face remained neutral but her golden eyes were shadowed.

"I told you my Lord, I want to leave here. Koto is big, I could find work easily, there is room for advancement…" Jadeite gave her another little shake and her golden eyes narrowed, "My Lord if you wish I can concoct some lie for you. I will tell you about women's petty jealousies or how I am starting to grow bothered with country superstition that pegs me not only as your whore but also a witch, but the simple truth is that I hate it here as much as you do… and you know it." Her voice was calm, low, but a spark of truth rang in her words, and Jadeite paused to consider. 

After a moment, his deep blue eyes locked with ochre, he replied, "I relent. I will take you to Koto, but after that, you must make your own way. I will not be responsible for you." 

She smiled a cold hard smile and leaned forward; capturing his lips with her own she tugged gently on his lower lip. In one sweeping movement he stood, picking her up and throwing her on the bed, landing on top of her with a grunt. Sweeping a piece of dark auburn hair of her forehead in a rare moment of gentleness, he looked down at her, his blue eyes cold and wintry, "Yes Beryl, you are right. I grow tired of you, and you grow tired of me… and perhaps your information, as speculative as it is, will be worth something. I will take you to Koto, but after that, you will never again share my bed. Even after all these years there is, even now, little love between us."

Beryl smirked wrapping her legs around his back, "No my lord, there is no love, but I'm sure that between the two of us we can make a little warmth."

……

Rebellion (Lies) - Arcade Fire


	2. In the Devil's Territory

Thank you to my reviewer. 

This chapter was nearly the death of me. I may have to recalibrate later.

...

Chapter 2 – In the Devil's Territory

Beryl opened her eyes and slipped silently out of bed. The fire had burnt low in the hearth and she shivered violently as she pulled on her discarded clothes. Jadeite muttered in his sleep as warmth drained from the bed with her absence. 

She quickly threw another log on the fire so the room would warm and so that he would not wake up. He was used to her leaving to start her work before he woke, but it wouldn't do to have him asking too many questions about where she was going so late at night, especially when her own chambers boasted neither a fireplace or as many thick blankets to keep out the cold. 

Jadeite was a drunk and a womanizer, but she begrudgingly admitted, he was not stupid.

Beryl swiftly left the chamber softly shutting the door behind her. _Quickly_, quickly she ran down the long stone hallway, down the servants steep spiral staircase and out into the frostbitten outer courtyard. 

Beryl paused to look up at the sky briefly noting the time by the position of the moon and stars. Pulling the hood of her fur-lined cloak snugly over her head she slipped out of the palace complex and into the woods. 

The night was clear and brisk. No breeze, no wind, only the glow of the pearly half moon and the cold twinkle of distant stars, only the light crunch of her feet over the glimmering frost. She treaded deeper into the forest, the well-worn path eventually giving into deep undergrowth.

She smiled as she reviewed the night's events in her head. She was going to Koto. It had taken her far too long to wheedle that particular favor out of the blonde Shitennou. For a moment in Jadeite's bedroom she had been frightened that he would deny her request and force her to make her own to the city, she had even had to tell him a little too much of the truth about Duke Tadao and his 'rebellion.' Well she hadn't told him anything that useful in the end and perhaps she had even managed to plant a seed of suspicion about the intentions of the Moon Kingdom, but she doubted it. Jadeite was too rational to ever belief that the Moon could be the motivating force behind Duke Tadao's rebellion. 

Of course, she resented needing _his_ help at all, she would have much preferred to get to Koto on her own, but security was rigorous around the Imperial City, and in the end it was much easier to let Jadeite's rank do the work. With him, she would be able to travel by Portal right into the heart of the city, instead of taking the time to secure passage on an airship.

Her previous smile faded as she thought of how she could have been in Koto much sooner, years earlier, if it had not of been for Jadeite's insipid sister. Jade. She hated Jade. Nevertheless, it would not due to think of that now. She would think about how to repay Jade for her nosiness later. Right now, she was simply content to be going to Koto, the next part of the plan set into action. She grinned; things had worked out quite well actually. 

Beryl pushed on deeper into the forest. The trees were short and stunted for the most part but they grew close together, creating an almost impenetrable maze of bare sharp branches. No animals lived here, no birds nested in this forest on the edge of the world in the heart of the mountains. Her keen ears picked up the nearby sound of running water, a steady drip in the near silence of the forest. Altering her course slightly she came to the small entrance of a cave half hidden behind the carcass of a fallen pine tree.

It was warm, humid, and completely dark inside the cave, a sharp contrast from the frozen world she had just left. Beryl ran her hand along the rough damp surface of the rock walls, venturing deeper into the cave, feeling her way forward by touch alone. 

The path was familiar to her, etched into her memory from years of use. As she walked farther, the walls passing under her outstretched hand become rougher, warmer and a little damp. Stopping instinctively, she bent to take off her shoes and reached out with one bare foot; her toes dipped into still warm water.

Shedding all of her clothes, leaving them in heap on the shore, she plunged forward letting the warm water roll over her, letting the darkness and heat cleanse her. Beryl rolled over onto her back, floating on the dark underground lake her dark red hair drifting out around her creating a shadowy nimbus around her head. 

She floated there for some time, feeling the cold of the mountains seep out of her cramped muscles. 

She had found this cave long ago, when she had been nothing more than a dirty solitary child of six or seven years. Her memories of her life before she found the cave were patchy at best, sometimes she could recall brief glimpses of her former life, fire, flames erupting from the sky, loneliness, pain, the searing smell of burnt flesh… more hunger, loneliness, pain. All she was truly sure of was that she had ended up living alone in the forest, gathering or stealing food when she had opportunity. 

Everything had changed when she found the cave. 

It had been winter. Her hair had hung in matted tracks down her back, her clothes stained and torn beyond mending, her hands and feet raw and bloody from frostbite and wandering in the woods. She had been moving through the trees, following a small stream through the forest, walking to keep her muscles warm, trying not focus on the emptiness in her stomach. Then she had come to the cave, a gaping hole in the face of the mountainside; a freshly fallen pine tree nearly hid the entrance. It had taken her quite awhile to pick her way through all the branches. Scratched and covered in sticky sap she had finally tumbled into the cave.

A few stray rays of sunlight filtered in through the boughs and broken branches of the fallen pine tree. The weak light illuminating the space enough so that she could see that it was much bigger than she had expected and that the stream she had followed through the forest ran right through the middle of the cave, flowing ever downward as the land tipped forward.

As a child, living alone in a forest, she did not have the luxury of being afraid of the dark and for a while she had tried to explore, but it had been too dark to see. She had finally given up and settled down in a corner near the entrance reveling in the relative warmness of the cave compared to the bitter winter winds outside. Fishing around in the pockets of her dress, she dug out the last bit of food she had, a moldy piece of bread she had stolen a few days earlier. 

That was when the light had come. It was just a shimmer at first, a golden glow hovering near the back of the cave. Beryl had looked twice to make sure that her eyes were not deceiving her, but it had still been there. Curious and a little frightened she got up and walked towards the wispy light. Beryl's fear faded into awe as she passed her hand though the glow, it did not diminish; only shifted to flow around her skin radiant and slightly warm. 

It moved then, danced away from her to rest a few feet farther into the cave. Beryl followed the specter, the light moving every time she got near. This went on for quite some time, down a narrow passage, and into a greater cavern, which held a vast underground lake. The light had been steadily growing as Beryl moved farther into the darkness, and now it hovered over the water a gleaming ball of fire, its light reflecting of the rough cavern walls making them shine with crystalline rainbows. 

The child Beryl had hesitated at the edge of the water, uncertain of her next action, unsure of just what magic had led her so far away from cave entrance and from the mountain forest, which was her home. Her awe turned once again into trepidation as she remembered fragments of stories someone must have told her about children lured to their deaths by fairy lights and spirits that lived underground.

The light seemed to sense her hesitation and it came towards her and then enveloped her, swirled around her, warming her chilled hands and feet soothing away the chilblains and blisters. It filled her with a longing she had not been able to name as it flowed around her touching her face and her hair, a longing to be beautiful, to be loved, to be cared for, but mainly she wanted to be a part of the light, she wanted to be powerful and free, not small and frozen and hungry.

The light urged her into the lake. Beryl took a step forward, feeling the warm water lap against her feet. She treaded further and further into the pool and then she was floating warm and safe in the darkness in what felt like the heart of the Earth, the light hovering over her breast. 

After a while the light, even bigger and brighter then previously, began to move again and Beryl followed it. Swimming to the far shore, she emerged dripping but clean and entered into a vast cavern, much larger than the one that held the lake. After she had walked a little ways, the light floated out before her hanging in the middle of a great chasm. The ground dropped off sharply in front of her and she made the mistake of looking down into the infinite void below her. Beryl jerked back, falling to her knees, head reeling with vertigo. 

Then the light, growing brighter every second, nearly blinding in its radiance, a miniature star come to rest in the depths of the Earth, had spoken. 

It had simply said her name, "Beryl." 

It had been deafening, the sound of an infinite number of golden bells all chiming together. Beryl, curiosity and longing forgotten had cowered in absolute terror her hands clasped over her ears, her eyes tightly shut to save them from the burning brightness before her. 

The light softened its voice, _"Beryl, Beryl, do not be frightened, do not be frightened."_

Beryl had opened her eyes, her whole body trembling and looked up into the great light, the longing returning. 

_"I've been watching you Beryl, I've seen you in the woods, and you are alone. I am alone too. Beryl you have become precious to me_," the voice, the light, intoned. _"Beryl you could be as a daughter to me."_

Beryl, speechless, had merely nodded, for at that moment, in that second she wanted nothing more than to be part of this beautiful shining thing that was floating within her grasp. There was still fear, but there was also a choice. The choice for the small forgotten child had been easy. Nothing or everything. _Everything._

_"You are my beloved Beryl, I am the light. I am Metallia. You will be my right hand in this world. My vengeance, my justice, my victory will be yours. You will want for nothing and you shall be blessed beyond compare. Powerful beyond compare. You are and shall be loved beyond compare."_

Beryl had cried out then as the void before her seemed to burst open, flooding her body with crackling golden fire.

It had burned.

But what was pain? Beryl knew pain even as a child. 

Pain could be overcome with power. 

Emptiness could be filled with power. 

Hunger could be fed with power.

The adult Beryl left her memories and rolled over, swimming with deep sure strokes to the shore. After that day, she had continued to come to the cave to commune with Metallia, to listen to the secrets and plans that were now close to her heart. Emerging from the lake, she traced familiar steps and kneeled by the edge of the void, waiting in the darkness. Light flared. 

A miniature sun, floated in the black void of space. Its fiery brightness made her eyes water and made her heart swell with joy and devotion. The dark around her became darker when confronted with the Light, and everything, rock, pebble, human flesh was thrown into sharp contrast.

"_Beryl_," a voice reverberated around her, tendrils of light and flame reached out to her, touching her, spreading a golden heat throughout her body. She looked up into the infinite space above her exhaling in awe as the cavern melted away, revealing the light of thousands of stars. Her pale damp skin glistened in the starlight. The sun, Metallia, and the stars. 

"_Beryl_," the voice, the light, Metallia, repeated. 

"_Yes?_" Beryl voiced, yet no sound left her lips, the sound came from inside her, the center of her.

"_The time has come Beryl, for our plan to be set fully into motion_."

"_Yes._" 

Then she was flying, completely enveloped by golden light and her body floated upwards, away from the edge of the void, into the void. She drifted into the star spangled sky; she hovered amongst the stars, naked and warm, she was light, she was power, she was both Beryl and Metallia and she rejoiced because she was loved and never alone.

……

In the Devil's Territory - Sufjan Stevens

Review. Won't that be fun?


	3. Tiny Little Fractures

A longer chapter! The boys! Drunken brawls! What more could you want?! (This fic is taking a darker turn then even I thought, but if you want mushy happy romance, its coming, I swear)

Here is something though: So far, it has been revealed that seventeen years ago a disaster struck the Terran Empire that is called the Day of Fire. I previously had this event occurring in mid-summer but have since changed it to early spring because my seasons weren't lining up right. I went back and changed the reference, but for continuity's sake, I thought I had better mention it here as well. 

……

Chapter 3 – Tiny Little Fractures

Jadeite could not feel his toes. _Terra it's cold_. Shivering he stamped his feet against the frozen ground and pulled the fur-lined collar of his deep grey wool coat higher around his neck then shoved his hands back into his pockets. Icy sleet and semi-snow rained down on his head and he gave another involuntary shiver as a particularly nasty gust of wind blew over him. Beryl stood silently beside him wrapped snugly in her cloak, still as a statue, a misty silver cloud of breathe hovering around her head. Jadeite glanced warily at her from the corner of his eye; he still had reservations about taking her to Koto.

She had only been partially right when she had said that Koto was a big city. Koto was not technically a city, it was an island, the Imperial Island, and one generally had to get special permission to live or trade there, of course, there were always ways around those sorts of restrictions... but he was still breaking numerous rules by taking Beryl and it made him uncomfortable. He could not blame her for wanting to leave Biskek, but the Empire was wide she could have chosen a myriad of different destinations that would be much easier to travel to and much easier to find work in… 

And now outside of the bedroom, in the light of day, he regretted his decision. Beryl made him uncomfortable. She set him on edge. There was a darkness about her, a dissonance beyond the obvious fact that she was some sort of witch. Jadeite was a pragmatic man, he did not believe in superstition and magic was foreign to him, but… well it was too late. Not only was Jadeite realistic he was also a man of his word. He had told Beryl that he would take her and now he would. 

Jadeite breathed a heavy sigh of relief as the Portal finally blazed into life in front of them. Portals were a relatively new technology and they were much faster than traveling overland on horseback, oversea by boat, or even flying by airship. Portals were convenient but they had their setbacks, horses often refused to go through and they also required massive amounts of energy to function, making them available only to the very rich. Portals could also be easily tampered with, changing the goal destination or shutting down the Portal during travel could result in some very nasty dilemma's for a traveler. As such, Portals were generally heavily guarded, the one at Biskek was no exception, fifteen of his father's soldiers stood watch behind him as the Portal powered up. 

The outlines of the Portal swirled green, gold, and deep blue but in the clearer middle of the portal he could just make out the hazy outline of Koto's Imperial Palace sitting high above the town of Koto itself. Jadeite clenched his jaw as the usual nausea that accompanied travel by Portal started to take hold of him. He hated traveling by portal and he understood exactly why horses disliked them so. Jadeite smirked and took a step forward into the glow, _who would have thought that having your body sucked through space and time would be so damned uncomfortable_.

Darkness.

Jadeite stumbled out of the portal, his head spinning. A few moments later Beryl tumbled out behind him nearly knocking him over. Jadeite quickly stepped away and shut his eyes tightly swallowing back the bile that head risen up in his throat, his mouth was dry. 

"Well met Jadeite," said a voice somewhere to the left of him. Jadeite looked up, his vision finally starting to clear; a very tall and slender man stood beside him his long chestnut hair tied back in a simple braid, his deep grey officer's uniform immaculately pressed.

"Ah Nephrite, good to see you, looking morose as usual," Jadeite said clamping the other man companionably on the back.

The tall man's thin lips turned into a semi-smile as he looked down at his best friend, "Yes well without you here to distract me with other pursuits it seems that I become a little too involved in my studies… or so everyone says."

Jadeite smiled and began to unbutton his heavy coat. Though it was still winter in Koto it was much warmer and there was no snow on the ground. Spring was beginning to make her presence known. "And how are the stars these days my friend, are they still proclaiming immanent doom?" 

Nephrite's smile faltered a little, his deep brown eyes immediately losing their jovial gleam. "Things are not good Jadeite, the stars predict war and loss… the political _situation_ is only becoming worse… nothing is being accomplished by the meetings in the palace. The King is…" Nephrite stopped talking as he noticed Beryl trying to stand. "Who is that?"

Jadeite glanced behind him and then turned his back on Beryl, who was just now climbing unsteadily to her feet. Traveling by portal was relatively safe but the after effects especially for those not used to it like Beryl could be… uncomfortable to say the least.

He turned back to Nephrite prodding the man forward, "She's no one my friend, just a hitchhiker on her way to the city." 

Nephrite stopped walking, twisting back, trying to get a better look at Beryl who was unfastening her cloak, her auburn hair catching the light of the setting sun. "Jadeite, you know you shouldn't be taking unauthorized passengers through portals, especially to Koto, not with everything that has been happening lately. It could even be dangerous. If you don't know who she is we should question her…"

Jadeite shook his head and shrugged, once more trying to push his friend forward. "She's no one Nephrite; I brought her with me from my father's castle. I owed her a favor." 

Nephrite stopped walking again his angular face wary, "Jadeite are you telling me you brought your mistress with you from Biskek? What are you going to do with her? You know that the King doesn't look fondly on his officers keeping women in the palace or even in the town." 

Jadeite sighed, "I'm not _keeping_ her Jadeite, I just brought her with me. She's on her own from now on." 

Nephrite glanced back at Beryl again who met his gaze directly. A shiver ran down his back as he looked into her hooded yellow eyes. Lowering his voice he bent a little to talk into Jadeite's ear, "There is something unsettling about her Jadeite. She has a strange aura… a darkness…"

Jadeite shook his head in agitation this time and started walking forward without his friend, "You worry too much Nephrite. She is only a woman." 

Nephrite shook his own head in consternation his face suddenly very serious, "I fear that you often underestimate women. You should have more respect for the Mother race. Besides, we should not leave her alone here. You should at least secure her a place in the servant's quarters." 

Jadeite laughed, slinging an arm around Nephrite's shoulders, "You are too serious Nephrite. I never underestimate a woman, and that one will be fine on her own. Now let's make haste to the nearest tavern, you know how thirsty traveling by portal makes me." Jadeite looked into his solemn friend's face, willing him to move on and leave Beryl behind them. In fact, he knew that Nephrite was right. The more he thought about it the more apprehension he felt. Beryl had never struck him as particularly trustworthy but he had let the feeling slide pushing his intuition to the side. He had merely taken pleasure in her willingness to come to his bed. 

Jadeite knew his weaknesses, the opposite sex being first among many, but he had thought that he had moved beyond letting his… lust for life override his common sense. But Beryl had been soft and warm in a place that was cold and hard and full of memories that he would rather forget... He shouldn't have brought Beryl and he shouldn't leave her alone, but he simply did not want to think about it right now. All he wanted to do now was to have a drink and find a nice simple girl to flirt with, preferably one who did not make his flesh crawl. He would forget about Beryl while drinking away his headache. She was harmless. _She is harmless.  
_  
...

Kunzite got up from his paper-strewn desk and stretched, thinking that if he read one more armory report or signed another damned piece of paper, his head would explode. Ever since he had sent his personal secretary home two days ago, he had been swamped in paperwork, but the man had deserved a vacation and Kunzite knew that he had been eager to go home to see his heavily pregnant wife and three young children. He would have to put in a request for another secretary before they left for the Moon Kingdom tomorrow morning, hopefully the head of household would be able to find someone acceptable on such short notice. Settling into an armchair he propped his feet up on the black lacquered traveling chest in front of him. Looking across the chest at his friend who was perched in a window seat on the far side of the room, he gave the trunk a light thump with one shining boot. "Zoi what have you got in here anyway?

Zoicite looked up from the book he had been reading, "Books."

Kunzite leaned forward looking at his comrade with obvious shock. "Books? All of it is books? The whole thing? Don't you think that the Moon Palace has a library?" 

Zoicite smiled, his eyes glowing a vivid green in the firelight, "Just a little light reading…besides one never knows when one might have to cross reference."

Kunzite opened his mouth to reply and then shut it again shaking his head. Leaning back Kunzite settled back deeper into his chair glad for a chance to rest in the companionable silence of the study. The day had been hectic. The King had held meetings with his advisers all day, but things still looked grim. Rebel factions, led by Duke Tadao, in the North and Far East were becoming more and more outspoken. Already the duke's rebels nearly had a whole quadrant in their grasp… Kunzite shook his head. 

The problem was that the rebels did not seem to be able to produce any reason for their discontent, they had no demands, they toted no ideals, and they had no plans for the future beyond overthrowing the royal line. The other problem was that they did not seem to be using any kind of force. They did not even have an organized army. It made no sense. They were less a rebel movement and more a disease of discontent, a black cloud sweeping down from the north towards the capital city. In essence, the problem probably could have been stopped early on during its origins… but the leader of the Far East had been… well he had not been the same for many years and his domain had fallen into disrepair. 

Kunzite got up from his chair; suddenly restless he leaned against the cool marble mantle of the fireplace, prodding the fire with a long metal poker, he felt the flames flare giving an extra burst of warmth to the already warm chamber.

Zoicite looked up from his book, watching his friend lurk about the room. Kunzite was hardly ever restive. In fact, Zoicite had never met a man who put such purpose into his every action. Kunzite was uncommonly tall but not overly robust; as such, he moved with confidence and a certain grace that one could gain only from a lifetime of training with both bow and blade. Zoicite closed his book as Kunzite once more began to prod and stir the fire and said bluntly, "Kunzite, if you must move about so I wish you would do it somewhere else."

Kunzite looked over at his friend weighing the smaller man's annoyance, deciding that Zoicite was not truly bothered but just trying to bait him into speaking his feelings he wandered back over to his chair and sat down resting his chin on his steepled fingers. 

Kunzite was not only a decisive man; he was also a man of little words and fewer outward emotions. Whatever was troubling him, and Zoicite had a good idea what it was, he would talk about it after he had mulled it over about a thousand times in his head. Zoicite returned to his book, he had just started a fascinating new chapter on the tariffs placed on Mercurian Water Diamonds exported to Venusian Pleasure Domes. 

Five minutes later the sturdy oak door to the small study flew up and Zoicite's attention was once more diverted form his studies. A tall man entered the room his usually tidy brown hair falling in disarray past his shoulders, draped across the tall man's arm was another slightly shorter and very bedraggled looking man who was at the moment loudly singing a very bawdy song.

"Nephrite, what happened," Zoicite asked calmly getting up from his seat to help Nephrite usher Jadeite through the doorway. 

"I stopped him from starting another brawl at the Red Rose," Nephrite said unceremoniously dumping the blonde man into a nearby chair. Jadeite looked up at his two friends his usually bright blue eyes fogged over by alcohol, a yellow bruise was just starting to blossom on his right cheekbone. "Zoicite! Cousin! It's so good to see you! Feels like its been a lifetime!" 

Zoicite frowned and said curtly, "Jadeite you saw me two weeks ago." 

Jadeite waved a hand in the air, dismissing the disapproving tone in his friend and first cousin's voice, "A life time, two weeks, it's all the same to me…" Jadeite broke off his sentence beginning to hum a slightly bawdier tune he contentedly let his attention drift to the fire.

Nephrite eased himself into a chair beside Jadeite beginning the hard work of taking off his mud spattered knee-high boots. Addressing the room in general he said, "This is the second time this month that I've had to stop him from running some big mouthed commoner clean through."

Jadeite perked up as he heard Nephrite talking, "Yes he surely did," the man slurred poking a finger at his companion. "Ole Nephy here stopped me just in time too or those five men would have got what was coming to them."

Kunzite, silent up until this point now got up from his seat and walked over to a nearby table pouring out a glass of water. Walking back towards the fire, he handed Jadeite the full glass, "This has to stop Jadeite. If the King found out the extent of your drinking habits…"

"Stop ordering me around Kunzite," Jadeite said his garbled voice growing louder with anger as his mood suddenly shifted. "We are not on the battlefield nor do you have any say in what I choose to do during my nighttime hours. We are the same rank, you aren't my superior… in anything," the blonde man spat out eyeing the pale man standing across the room. 

Returning his gaze to the crackling fire, Jadeite took a sip of the water that Kunzite had handed him and set it down with disgust. "Oh come on Kunzite where are you hiding the hard stuff. I know you have a weakness for vodka, hell I'd settle for gin, there must be some stowed around here somewhere." Jadeite said his woozy gaze wandering around the room. Kunzite shook his head in aversion and looked over at Nephrite who shrugged his shoulders and continued to work at getting his other boot off. 

"You drink too much Jadeite," Zoicite said simply picking his book back up. 

Jadeite pushed himself forward in his chair glaring at the other blonde man. "Don't start in on me Zoicite, just because our mother's were sisters doesn't mean you have any more of a right to boss me around then he does," Jadeite said flinging an arm in Kunzite's general direction. "Besides Zoi, what would you know about it, you're always hiding behind those books of yours, have you ever even had a drink? Or better yet have you ever even had a woman? Ever touched a woman Zoicite, ever felt her roll beneath you… or is the rumor true that you have a preference for something slightly sturdier…" Jadeite's eyes flickered over to Kunzite, his upper lip twisting into a sneer. 

Zoicite's green eyes narrowed dangerously…

"Enough." Kunzite's anger was quiet but potent the exact opposite of Jadeite's random and explosive displays. "What is wrong with you? I am tired of having this same argument repeatedly. You've always been found of your drink but this, this is ridiculous," Kunzite hissed. "How long do you expect us to cover for you? Should we all just keep lying, covering up your brawls, your nightly visits to every whorehouse in town, should we all keep bribing the servants to discreetly dispose of all the empty bottles in your room until we're all kicked out of the Shitennou because of **your** filthy habits?"

Both Nephrite and Zoicite grimaced as Jadeite jumped up from his chair, lurching towards Kunzite, ignoring the swirling spinning sensation in his stomach and head. "Shut up." He whispered his voice low and deadly. "I never asked any of you to do anything for me. I never asked any one to do anything for me!" he burst out giving a solid shove to Kunzite's chest nearly causing himself to fall over in the process. 

Simultaneously Nephrite and Zoicite jumped up, pushed Jadeite back into his chair, and then stood on either side of him to make sure he stayed there. Nephrite looked down at his friend his angular features lined with concern and then looked over at Kunzite who no longer looked angry only tired, "It's his sister you know, that's really what is bothering him."

"Traitor," Jadeite hissed glaring up at the tall man from his chair.

"Shut up, Jadeite, you have said quite enough for one night," Nephrite said calmly pulling out a small silver box from his breast pocket and taking out a tightly rolled cigarette. 

Jadeite rested his aching head in his hands. "Go on Nephrite tell them the rest of it you might as well," he muttered bitterly.

Zoicite looked from one friend to the other confusion wrinkling his usually smooth brow, "We all know about Jadeite's sister Neph. Her situation isn't exactly first-class but there is no reason to believe that she is in any immediate danger…"

Nephrite sighed and sat down exhaling a cloud of purple smoke, "We all know that five years ago when both Jade and Jadeite reached their majority she was given in marriage to Duke Tadao… who at the time was considered neither particularly powerful or particularly dangerous."

"What he was was particularly rich," mumbled Jadeite his face still buried in his hands.

"Would you like to tell this story Jadeite, it is your story after all," Nephrite said exhaling another cloud of smoke, which was now pale green in color.

Taking Jadeite's silence as cue, Nephrite continued, "Yes, Duke Tadao was particularly rich and it is another well known fact that since the day the fires fell nearly seventeen years ago Jadeite's father and his quadrant have suffered the most. The fires blazed the hardest in the Far East and they blazed for quite some time, nearly crippling the regions areas of industry. So when Duke Tadao offered to marry Jade, Jadeite's father readily excepted hoping that the bride-price would be able to revive the remainder of the region's mining and farming capabilities." 

"We already know all this Nephrite, everyone knows this. We all know what happened on the Day of Fire and the destruction that was left in its wake. We all know why Jade was married to Duke Tadao and we all know that neither Jadeite nor Jade was particularly happy about it, and that it caused a rift between them. And now we know that Duke Tadao is the leader of the rebel faction, which has of yet not turned particularly violent. But have we not heard any ill news concerning Jade or her son," Zoicite said sitting down on the stool in front of the fire.

Nephrite looked over his auburn hair glinting copper in the firelight, "Yes Zoicite, but there are **two** things that you do not know, what only Jadeite and his father previously knew, and this is what has put Jadeite in such a fine temper as of late. The first is that all recent attempts to contact Jade have been unsuccessful. She seems to have completely disappeared into the rising rebellion… and if she hasn't joined the rebellion than her and her son, the current heir to Far East, are most likely going to be used as leverage against Jadeite's father… who as we all know has never quite been the same since the Day of Fire, when his capital seat was completely destroyed and when his beloved wife died in the blaze." Nephrite finished speaking in a could of pink smoke, stamping his cigarette butt into a nearby ashtray he turned to Jadeite who was now leaning back in his chair looking at the ceiling.

"Oh bravo Neph, well told. Remind me never to tell you anything again, or should I not even bother since you'll inevitabley just read it in the stars," Jadeite said his voice heavy with sarcasm.

"None of this makes any sense Jadeite," Kunzite said, ignoring Jadeite's taunt, his voice deep and serious. "The rebels are a concern but they have not of yet caused much trouble. Their bark seems to be worse than their bite at this point, the King is working tirelessly to find the root of this problem and to resolve it in a peaceable manner without having to send in armed forces. Though Duke Tadao will probably lose his title, as well as his head, for speaking treason against the royal line there is no reason to believe that your sister would also be brought to trial or even indicated in any of this mess."

"What is the second thing that we do not know?" Zoicite asked.

Nephrite looked pointedly at Jadeite, who sat silently, slouched in his chair, his eyes dim and empty.

Suddenly restless, Jadeite got up from his seat and moved closer to the fire leaning his burning forehead against the fireplace's smooth cool marble mantle and mumbled, "She was with child." 

"Recently? You mean she lost a child," Kunzite spoke up his face lined with concern. They all had known and loved the bright and outspoken Jade before she had married Tadao and disappeared into his country fortress, and it pained him to think of her loss. 

"No," Jadeite said his voice muffled, "Not recently."

"What do you mean Jadeite? When was she with child?" Zoicite asked warily, unpleasant possibilities racing through his quick mind. 

Jadeite turned to face the three men in the room. Golden Zoicite, the youngest and quickest of them all, watched him a fearful question in his abnormally green eyes. Kunzite, the leader, lithe but broadly built with long silver hair that nearly fell to his waist when unbound, also watched and waited his face a stone mask of stoicism. Nephrite watched as well Nephrite his best friend and confidante, tall and angular, the man who was somehow able to make him return to himself even in his darkest moments. They were his friends, the only friends he had. He felt dead inside. 

"No. She was with child before she married Tadao." They all waited, silence hung heavy in the room, and Jadeite felt the words rushing out of his mouth and he could not, would not stop them. 

"She came to me, she wanted my help. She was crying. She never cried. She had always been the strong one. She was pregnant and she wouldn't tell me who the father was. I begged her to tell me. She said it was impossible, that it didn't matter who the father was, and that she had to get out of Biskek. She implored me not to tell father, not to tell anyone, to help her run away. I didn't know what to do. What could I do? We were only just seventeen. She was a royal daughter, she would have been ruined, there would have been a scandal, and our whole family would have been shamed. I told father." Jadeite laughed a lifeless laugh, aware that he was rambling, his hands clenching into fists. 

"For a man previously renowned for his temper, he took it quite well actually. Much better then I thought he would. He simply said that she would have to be married immediately and so she was given to Tadao, who was rich enough so that we could make a profit and stupid enough, so we thought at the time, not to be able to count the months correctly. So I watched as my beloved seventeen-year-old twin sister was sold into a loveless match to a selfish pompous man twice her age. She stopped talking to me after that. It would have been better if she had yelled at me, accused of me betraying her, said anything to me, because at least then I would have known that she was only angry at me that she could have forgiven me in time, but she just silently married him and then left… disappeared. And now she is completely lost to me, swallowed by some darkness that I can't help but feel will only grow larger fed by the discontent the fires left behind and surrounded by magic that I know nothing about. I betrayed her and now I don't know how to save her, if I even can," Jadeite turned back to the fire. 

"Does Tadao know?" Kunzite asked quietly.

Jadeite shrugged, "Who knows… I hope not."

"Do you have any idea who the father is…?" Zoicite asked his eyes kind but calculating. 

"Would it matter if I did?" Jadeite said moving back towards the armchair he had been sitting in and touching his rapidly swelling cheekbone, remnant of his earlier activities. He felt sick and tired, empty of all emotion even anger. Kunzite remained in his seat, boots propped up on Zoicite's traveling trunk. Nephrite stood by the window, another cigarette in hand, gazing intently up into the night sky. 

"Well it could matter a great deal depending on who it is…" Zoicite began but the study door opening cut him off. It was Endymion.

Endymion stood in the entry, his two black hunting hounds, Nana and JyuSan, constant shadows, tumbling in behind him, their pink tongues lolling cheerfully from their mouths. 

Silence.

Endymion paused in the doorway, looking at the four very serious faces of his best friends. "What's going on?" Walking into the room, he shut the door behind him and gracefully folded his long frame into a chair across from Jadeite's, his dogs settling peacefully down at his feet. "What happened to your face," Endymion asked suspiciously eyeing the blooming bruise on Jadeite's cheek.

Jadeite continued to stare gloomily into the fire. 

Silence.

Endymion, disquieted now, opened his mouth to say something, but Nephrite interrupted him, "Nothing has happened, Jadeite has just gotten into another fight at the Red Rose, and Kunzite had just finished telling him off for it. Nothing extraordinary," Nephrite finished in a cloud of smoke, stamping out another cigarette and immediately lighting one more.

Kunzite threw a piercing look towards Nephrite who met his gaze evenly and then turned back to the window and the night sky. It seemed that the evenings discussion was Jadeite's story to tell and no one else's. 

"Oh," Endymion said, sitting back into his chair, his ebony hair falling just past his chin, glinting onyx, a crow's wing, in the firelight. Tension still lingered in the room and Endymion's gaze shifted from one friend to the other. Jadeite's drinking problem was a common source of agitation… but they never kept secrets from one another and Endymion felt he was being left out of something, it made him uneasy and a little jealous of their easy camaraderie, their simple ability to shut him out, "I've just come from Elysion. Helios sends his regards," he said absently to fill the silence his eyes dark in his discomfort. 

Silence. 

Endymion sat his hand resting comfortable on the head of one of his hounds. 

Zoicite picked up his book.

Kunzite closed his eyes, feigning sleep.

Nephrite turned back to the stars.

Jadeite looked into the fire.

……

Beryl hid quietly in the shadows of the ruined castle, crouched behind an old stone wall. Below her, made visible by the silvery moonlight, was a short staircase leading down to a pair of intricately carved wooden doors. She was too far away to see the pictures engraved on the wood, but she knew instinctively that it would be a garden. She knew, because she had seen the doors before, she had seem them in her dreams. 

Looking around, deciding that she was completely alone, she began to creep forward from her hiding place, only to quickly drop to the ground as one of the doors opened, letting out a surreal stream of golden light into the dark night. A young man emerged; he was tall and well built, dressed all in black with dark hair that fell just past his chin, two hounds the color of night followed him out the door. Turning he raised his hand in farewell to whoever held open the door and Beryl suppressed a gasp of shock upon seeing his face exposed to the light. He was beautiful, strong jaw, straight nose, sweeping black brows, wide eyes the color of a deep ocean…

The door closed and his face was lost from view. Beryl held her breath as the man climbed the stairs and passed her. She thought all was lost when one of his hounds started to wonder her way, nose to the ground, but it bounded away when its master called out a sharp reprimand. 

She lay there on the cold ground a few moments after he left, her thoughts full of the beautiful strangers face. She wanted him. She would acquire him. First, however, she would get the Crystal. 

…..

Tiny Little Fractures – Snow Patrol

Thank you to my reviewers and my readers! You guys are neat.


End file.
